League Welcomes Yemeni Progress

Yemen’s Houthi group said on Wednesday it was ready to stop fighting and join a national unity government.

The announcement appeared to confirm the details of a deal set out by US Secretary of State John Kerry a day earlier that he said included plans for a ceasefire starting on Thursday.

The Arab League welcomed the development in Yemen.

“Ansarullah’s position has been and still is with stopping the war and the establishment of a national unity government that incorporates all political components,” Mohammed Al Bukhaiti, a member of the political council of the Houthi’s Ansarullah group said, responding to a question on Kerry’s announcement.

Kerry, in what could be his last trip to the Gulf before President Barack Obama’s term ends in January, said on Tuesday that officials from the Houthi group and the Saudi-led coalition meeting had agreed to a ceasefire starting on Thursday.

Underlining the complexity of the situation, Hadi’s government quickly rejected the move, complaining that it had been bypassed.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdel Malek Al Mekhlafi said Kerry’s announcement had not been coordinated with the government which, he said, was not interested in the plan.

“I believe the current US administration is incapable of providing any guarantees to any party and what Kerry has said is no more than a media bubble at our people’s expense,” Mekhlafi said.